RocknRolla

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RocknRolla is a 2008 crime comedy film written and directed by Guy Ritchie, and starring Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Jimi Mistry and Toby Kebbell. It was released on 5 September 2008 in the United Kingdom, hitting number one in the UK box office in its first week of release.

Video RocknRolla

Plot

In London, the British mob boss Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson) rules the growing real estate business using a corrupt Councillor (Jimi Mistry) for the bureaucratic services and his henchman Archy (Mark Strong) for the dirty work. A billionaire Russian businessman, Uri Omovich (Karel Roden), plans a crooked land deal, and London's crooks all want a piece of it. Other key players include the underhand accountant Stella (Thandie Newton) and ambitious small-time crook One-Two (Gerard Butler) leading a group called the "Wild Bunch" which includes Mumbles (Idris Elba) and Handsome Bob (Tom Hardy).

Lenny charges Uri EUR7,000,000 for the crooked deal; Uri has his accountant Stella move the funds. Uri lends his lucky painting to Lenny as a sign of friendship. Stella, however, double-crosses Uri and tips off the Wild Bunch to steal the money, while the painting is stolen from Lenny's wall by his junkie rocker stepson Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell), who faked his own death. Lenny and Archy coerce his former managers Mickey (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) and Roman (Jeremy Piven) into tracking down Johnny. Handsome Bob also gets close to Stella's gay husband, a lawyer who has information on a prevalent undercover informer in their criminal circle.

After Uri's money is stolen by the Wild Bunch a second time, his assistant Victor begins to suspect that it is Lenny who has been stealing the money and purposely keeping Uri's painting from him. Uri eventually grows impatient of Lenny and lures him to a private golf game where Victor breaks his leg as a warning to return his lucky painting without delay.

Cookie (Matt King) happens to buy the painting from some crackheads who had just stolen it from Johnny's hideout. Cookie then gives the painting to One-Two who, in turn, offers the painting to Stella (after a sexual encounter) as a token of appreciation. After Stella leaves his flat, One-Two is surprised by Uri's henchmen but is rescued, and then kidnapped, by Archy and his goons who had come looking for Uri's money.

Uri wants to marry Stella, whom he has long admired. He goes to Stella's house to propose, but he then spots the painting. Stella lies and says she has had it for years. Uri, enraged by Stella's betrayal, orders Victor to kill her.

Archy brings Johnny, Roman, Mickey and the Wild Bunch to Lenny's warehouse where Lenny orders Johnny executed. He threatens to kill the Wild Bunch "very slowly" unless they give up the money they stole. Handsome Bob offers the legal documents concerning the informant in his pocket to Archy. Archy recognises the pseudonym used on documents, "Sydney Shaw", as belonging to Lenny. Lenny arranged with the police to routinely lock up many criminal associates (including Archy) for years at a time to enhance his own standing in the criminal underworld and to ensure his own freedom. Archy orders Lenny's men to free the Wild Bunch and has Lenny drowned and fed to crayfish.

In the lift, Johnny explains to Roman and Mickey that they will also be killed to leave no witnesses, and graphically explains the manner of their executions. His description unnerves the man who's to execute the three men, prompting him to act prematurely. Having also already anticipated this move, Johnny warns Mickey and Roman to intervene and kill their would-be executioner. Johnny shoots two more men waiting at the top of the lift and they escape the last of Archy's men (with help from the Wild Bunch).

Later, Archy picks up Johnny from rehab and gives Johnny Uri's lucky painting as a welcome home present. Archy says that obtaining the painting "cost a very wealthy Russian an arm and a leg" implying he had Uri killed. Johnny proclaims that, with his new-found freedom from addiction and his stepfather, he will do what he could not before: "become a real RocknRolla".

Maps RocknRolla

Cast

Mark Strong as Archy, Lenny Cole's right-hand man and the film's narrator
Tom Wilkinson as Lenny Cole, a head mobster part of London's declining old school mob regime.
Toby Kebbell as Johnny Quid, a musician and Lenny's estranged, drug-addicted stepson. It is implied that he faked his own death after anticipating that the news of his demise would cause his music sales to go up.
Gerard Butler as One-Two, a Scottish mobster who is the leader of the Wild Bunch
Tom Hardy as Handsome Bob, a member of the Wild Bunch who is closeted gay and has a semi-secret crush on One-Two
Idris Elba as Mumbles, One-Two's partner and a member of the Wild Bunch.
Karel Roden as the Russian business oligarch Uri Omovich.
Thandie Newton as Stella, Uri's accountant and One-Two's love interest.
Dragan Mi?anovi? as Victor, Omovich's right-hand man
David Bark-Jones as Bertie
Matt King as Cookie
Geoff Bell as Fred
Jeremy Piven as Roman
Ludacris as Mickey
Gemma Arterton as June
Jimi Mistry as the Councillor
Nonso Anozie as Tank
David Leon as Malcolm
Bronson Webb as Paul
Michael Ryan as Pete
Robert Stone as the Nightclub Bouncer
Jamie Campbell Bower as Rocker
Tiffany Mulheron as Jackie

A scheduling conflict prevented director Guy Ritchie from casting actor Jason Statham, who had appeared in four of his previous films.

Rocknrolla - Original Soundtrack: Amazon.co.uk: Music

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Production

In May 2007, director Guy Ritchie announced the production of RocknRolla, to be produced by Ritchie's own company, Toff Guy Films, Joel Silver's Dark Castle Entertainment, and French company StudioCanal, with distribution by Warner Bros. The following June, Ritchie hired the cast for RocknRolla, and filming began on location in London on 19 June 2007. Two scenes were filmed at Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire: the opening scene on the grass tennis courts, and the round of golf which takes place on the 21st green with the impressive clubhouse in the background.

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Reception

Critical response

Critical reaction to the film has been mixed, with 59% positive out of 145 reviews on the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6/10, the critical consensus stating: "Mixed reviews for Guy Ritchie's return to his London-based cockney wideboy gangster movie roots, but most agree, it's a step in the right direction following two major turkeys." The website Metacritic, which compiles and then aggregates major film critics' reviews, gave the film a 53 out of 100, which is categorised as having mixed or average reviews. While the film's unoriginal themes were criticised, the script and direction, as well as the performances of Strong, Butler and Kebbell, were praised.

IGN gave the film a positive review with four out of five stars, saying "[Guy Ritchie is] hardly re-inventing the wheel with this movie, but RocknRolla is nonetheless a comedy thriller that is every bit as accomplished as his early work, and without doubt a witty, adrenalin-fuelled blast from start to finish." Roger Ebert gave the film three stars, stating that "It never slows down enough to be really good, and never speeds up enough to be the Bourne Mortgage Crisis, but there's one thing for sure: British actors love playing gangsters as much as American actors love playing cowboys, and it's always nice to see people having fun."

Box office

The film hit No. 1 at the UK box office in its first week of release.

The film took a total gross of US$25,739,015 worldwide, compared to US$83,000,000 for Snatch, seeing a modest return on the film's US$18,000,000 budget.

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Soundtrack

United Kingdom edition

"Dialogue Clip: People Ask the Question" - Mark Strong
"I'm a Man" - Black Strobe
"Have Love, Will Travel" - The Sonics
"Dialogue Clip: No School Like the Old School" - Various Artists
"Bankrobber" - The Clash
"The Trip" - Kim Fowley
"Dialogue Clip: Slap Him!" - Various Artists
"Ruskies" - Steve Isles
"Outlaw" - War
"Waiting for a Train" - Flash and the Pan
"Dialogue Clip: Junkies" - Various Artists
"Rock & Roll Queen" - The Subways
"The Gun" - Lou Reed
"The Stomp" - The Hives
"We Had Love" - The Scientists
"Dialogue Clip: Sausage & Beans" - Various Artists
"Mirror in the Bathroom" - The Beat
"Funnel of Love" - Wanda Jackson
"Such a Fool" - 22-20s
"Dopilsya" - ex-Sektor Gaza
"Negra Leono" - Miguelito Valdés

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Sequels

Newton revealed that Ritchie stated that he hopes to extend RocknRolla into a trilogy, in the event that the film receives enough positive attention. At the end of the film there is a title card stating "Johnny, Archy and the Wild Bunch will be back in The Real RocknRolla". According to both the audio commentary and an interview with Ritchie, the second film has been written and is awaiting studio approval.

In a 2011 interview, promoting Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, when asked about a possible RocknRolla sequel, Ritchie said "You know, I've spent a lot of time thinking about it! I've written a script, I think it's a great script, and Joel (Silver) wants to pay for me to do it. But up until now we haven't had the time to do it. It's sitting there and we'd all like to do it, it's just a question of when we're going to fit it in. So we'll wait and see." He also mentioned that as long as Warner Bros. keeps throwing him "big movies like the Sherlock Holmes films and The Man from UNCLE, then it may not be happening soon."